Norwegian Broadcasting Sets Up Its Own Tracker 187
eirikso writes with an interesting story from Norway; the state broadcaster there has decided to put up some of its content on BitTorrent. "The tracker is based on the same OpenTracker software that the Pirate Bay has been using for the last couple of years. By using BitTorrent we can reach our audience with full quality, unencrypted media files. Experience from our early tests show that if we're the best provider of our own content we also gain control of it."
Re:Somebody catch me... (Score:1, Insightful)
Somebody needs to tag this with suddenoutbreakofcommonsense! Honestly, Actually delivering content smartly instead of stupidly was the answer all along!? Who'd have thunk it!?
Hurray! (Score:2, Insightful)
Translation (Score:3, Insightful)
"Experience from our early tests show that if we're the best provider of our own content we also gain control of it."
Translated: More people will pay for what they can get for free than will pay for for less than they can get for free.
Re:Translation (Score:2, Insightful)
More like:
If it is just plain easier, and more reliable to get it from us in the way they want it, they will come to us instead of a 3rd party redistributor.
(This means they will come to OUR site, and see OUR ads when they search our tracker.)
Re:Umm... (Score:3, Insightful)
How about an explanation of the translation, since it's already about as concise as it can be.
Right now, people can get unencrypted, DRM-free, commercial-free files, which (will always) work anywhere, any time, for free.
People can also get encrypted, DRM-laden, commercial-packed files which (might, if you're lucky) work on certified players, as long as the company that produced the DRM scheme stays in business top operate the DRM servers and the copyright owner doesn't decide to take the work off the market, for an artificially inflated, unfair market price.
More people will pay for option one, if faced with the choice to do so, than will pay for option two.
I know I'd pay more for what I'm getting for free now than I will ever pay for what's on store shelves today.
Re:Umm... (Score:5, Insightful)
Did I wake up in a wrong universe or something? People are actually thinking now?
Right universe, wrong country. It's been known to happen these "3rd world countries" that don't have public education systems designed to beat individuality out of people, starting with a morning salute to the flag, and ending in a cease and desist order to the cries of "oh my precious imaginary property!"
Re:And now let's bitch about the CODEC used (Score:3, Insightful)
To go slightly off-topic, I've had a lot more trouble with files distributed in the matroska format than I have with MPEG-4. For some reason there seem to be a lot more half-broken mkv files out there (as in, they'll sort of play but not quite right), even though I doubt this has anything to do with the container format itself it has kind of turned me off of mkv (not to mention that I have more hardware and software capable of playing mp4 than I have capable of playing mkv). Kind of reminds me of when 7zip showed up and a bunch of people started refusing to use any other format for compressing files, which just pissed everyone else off and then interest for the format declined.
/Mikael
Re:Somebody catch me... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I for one... (Score:4, Insightful)
Hah, I don't think you understand bureaucracy.
The BBC have shovelled a HUGE quantity of money into iPlayer. That spending has to be justified, which means it will stay largely as it is for at least the next five years.
Re:Umm... (Score:5, Insightful)
Also on a side note, there's a torrent tracker which is dedicated to British TV. Rumours fly, that backroom deals (for instance not distributing content available on DVD) keeps them from legal trouble.
also, I know that most german TV networks offer their content to watch online (though their TV imho, isn't worth watching).
I admit, they're not torrenting their data and I don't know how easy it is to make a local copy (afaik the BBC requires you to use their own software iplayer). In the grand scheme of things it's quite a step forward though.
Re:I for one... (Score:4, Insightful)
Why should I, as a UK TV licence payer, fund programs for other people to watch?
Because it doesn't cost any more. If the entire world population were to turn on the BBC (and assuming these were physical TVs and not electronic so you can't add in the small cost of bandwidth) they could all receive it. Is it unfair? Yes, but I am of the opinion (note that I am not a UK citizen nor do I live in even a European nation), that if something doesn't require more money to keep it going, then why really charge for it or prevent others from using it? For example, for a road toll, by driving across it you create wear on the road that will eventually have to be paid to fix using the toll money. On the other hand, when I receive TV transmissions, it doesn't require any extra fees to keep it running.
Re:Umm... (Score:3, Insightful)
It may also mean that they recognize that if they distribute high quality files on bittorrent with a lot of bandwidth behind it (and maybe release it before anyone else has a chance to) that they can eventually slide a quick commercial in there and people will choose their file because they'll have been getting it fast, reliably, and looking great.
Re:And now let's bitch about the CODEC used (Score:3, Insightful)
Coming from an AC I'm inclined to believe you're just a random troll, especially since my experience is hardly unique, and screaming "anecdote!" at the top of your lungs doesn't mean that my cellphone and other non-PC hardware magically gains the ability to play mkv files, not to mention that for some reason a lot of mkv files seem to be of rather questionable quality, although obviously this is not something that you can find peer-reviewed research about...
/Mikael
Re:Somebody catch me... (Score:4, Insightful)
Unlike the US, TV in the rest of the world fulfills a lot of other purposes - apolitical news, documentaries, education, current affairs as well as entertainment shows that are too high-brow/niche for the commercial channels to bother with.
Besides, it's not government-run, it's government funded; there's a difference. When TV is used to keep the populace informed, instead of just keeping the population stupified, it helps not to spend 30% of the runtime playing adverts.